Joseph Smith's Mental Condition

It is tempting to just say "He was ceazy1" And say the same thing for all his many followers.

One could even take that further, and say "The whole 19th Century was crazy."

But the question still remains "How were they crazy?"

This question cannot be answered easily. you have to be specific. and refer to specific circumstances. One thing was obvious for Smith: he liked to compose scripture out of his fertile imagination, Starting with the Book of Mormon.

He was almost illiterate, he could barely write. But he loved to talk and dictated most of his writing.

We also have to consider the technology of the time: Industrialization. Which meant Manufacturing and Transportation, powered by the Steam Engine. And the Workers in these factories were described by Karl Marx. Working conditions were atrocious, and produced stunted bodies and minds.

After the Book of Mormon was printed, Missionaries took it to England. They did not take it to London, where it would have been ignored. They took to the Industrial Midlands where the Factory Workers could see it was Divine Scripture. And they departed, on Steam Ships, to be with their Prophet of God.